Impact and causes of illness and death in Australia

The Australian Burden of Disease Study 2011 responds to a need for updated, comparable evidence on the health of the Australian population.

This report analyses the impact of nearly 200 diseases and injuries in terms of living with illness (non-fatal burden) and premature death (fatal burden).

The study found that chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, mental and substance use disorders, and musculoskeletal conditions, along with injury contributed the most burden in Australia in 2011. Almost one third of the overall disease burden could be prevented by removing exposure to risk factors such as tobacco use, high body mass, alcohol use, physical inactivity and high blood pressure.

After adjusting for population increase and ageing, there have been good gains in the health of the population between 2003 and 2011, mostly from a 15% reduction in fatal burden but also from a smaller (3.8%) reduction in non-fatal burden. The reduction was seen most in those aged 55-89 years.